Aim
by 815
Summary: If you don't try, you will hit it. They all believe they will hit it, but it doesn't mean they don't try. — Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto
1. a memory of younger days

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

**Summary:** If you don't try, you will hit it. They all believe they will hit it, but it doesn't mean they don't try. ( Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto )

* * *

Sakura sweats.

Her chakra control was excellent, but even she struggles to heal the fish. She finally stops, heaving heavily_. It was just a fish_, she told herself. _Just a fish._ Her eyes narrow as she realized that it was just that:

A fish.

And if she had struggled healing that thing, then how was she supposed to heal a human being? She pounds her fist on the wooden table she was working on. She had asked Tsunade-sama to take her in as an apprentice for the ways of healing, but so far… Her fist clenched tighter.

So far, she wasn't doing a thing.

Her eyes had bags deep under her eyes from nights that she had stayed up just to practice the art of healing. How hard she had tried just to heal a stupid fish. Even Ino and the rest of her friends were showing signs of their concern toward her. They told her that if she kept doing all-nighters like that, she would kill herself.

In spite of all these worries, Sakura laughed, trying to lift up the mood. She ignored them and stayed up every night until she couldn't even tell the time anymore. And every night she thought of them.

_Sasuke. Naruto._

How long has it been since she's seen any of them? How long has it been since Sasuke left Konoha and been branded as a traitor? Even Ino had given up her obsession with the man, and had moved on. Sakura still can't give him up. Or Naruto. Why?

_Because we're a team._

She thinks back on the time when Naruto had gone to bring Sasuke back. He had given her that promise. She curses herself now for making him agree to it. Now he's probably training his arms off just because of some stupid promise. She wants to hate Naruto's way of the ninja - and hate Sasuke for leaving.

_But I can't._

She chuckles to herself as she's thought of all the times she had glomped Sasuke. She's a little embarrassed, now that she thinks of it. She kept on wondering what had possessed him to go over to Orochimaru. She kept on wondering if he'll ever come back again.

When she thinks of Naruto, she always doesn't know what to think. He's strong. He's courageous. He's kind. He's stupid too. She laughs at that. She never knew much about him, she soon realized. She never asked him what he liked (besides ramen) and how he grew up.

_I wonder if we'll ever be Team 7 again._

Sakura has always looked into the past. It was a small, tiny habit of hers that kept popping out of nowhere. Sakura had always thought how worse off she is right now in the present. How her life had just suddenly collapsed.

She always thought how better it was when she was the small child just growing up. She thinks of a red ribbon, the old Team 7, of teamwork, and of blooming flowers.

And then she thinks back to the reason.

_I want to help_.

And then she goes back to fusing chakra in her hands again.

And for a moment, she thinks of the future.

She thinks of how she and Naruto will bring Sasuke home again.  
She thinks of how everything might go back to the way it was before.

She thinks of Team 7.

The fish flips once, then rapidly.

Sakura smiles.

"Watch my back."

* * *

_The flow of time is always cruel...  
Its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it...  
A thing that doesn't change with time is a memory of younger days..._

- Minuet of Forest ; Zelda: Ocarina of Time -


	2. you will know which way to go

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

**Summary:** If you don't try, you will hit it. They all believe they will hit it, but it doesn't mean they don't try. ( Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto )

* * *

Sasuke stares into the dark.

He sits there every morning. He hardly ever sleeps. Don't ask him why. He won't answer.

All he sees is black. He can't remember the light as well anymore. Where had it all gone? In the dark, he loses all sense of time. All he knows is that the shadows on the wall shift slightly when it was day, and then revert back to the usual when it was night. He closes his eyes, expecting to see the same color as before, but this time he sees them. Team 7.

_Kakashi_. There was something about that unpunctual sensei of his. Something inside of him envied the copy ninja a bit. He was able to suppress his vengeful motives to actually live his life normally. He was an odd man too. And, when he was young, he was curious about the man.

And sometimes when he's walking or training, he sees Kakashi near the stone monument. And he knows that he was never really lost on the road of life.

_Sakura_. She would never stop chasing after him, would she? When he had left that night, she had come to stop him. He silently wonders what would have happened if she really had. But she didn't. Her attempt was desperate and Sasuke wonders if she really thought that she would've been able to stop him like that. Then he realizes that maybe her voice was the strongest thing she had. He's thinking now if she's still waiting for him.

Waiting for him to come home.

_Naruto._ Sasuke used to think that the boy would always be dead–last. But when they were fighting he realized that maybe they weren't so different at all. He was lonely just like he was. But that's not what he really remembers. He remembers that he was seen as a brother in his eyes. He remembers the voice that said that. Not so much as the face, but that voice.

Maybe the boy will grow up – grow up faster than Sasuke can from his revenge.

He wants to say sorry to them. He thinks back and wonders if it would have changed anything if he had. He snorts and shakes his head, saying no. The prodigy thinks about that night of the massacre. And he thinks of Itachi.

He thinks it's his brother's fault for the death of the clan. But then again, sometimes he blames himself. He thinks that if he hadn't stayed back so long during shuriken practice, he might have been able to save them. If he was strong enough, he might've been able to save them.

He misses his family. Who wouldn't when you know there's nothing out there than can bring them back? But he finds himself thinking more of Team 7 than of his deceased clan in the past days.

Sometimes he thinks that it's making him weak and he watches the hours and waits for that snake to get in here to start training.

But most of the time he thinks that he sees something. It's bright, but even he doesn't know what it is. When he closes his eyes in the darkness, he expects to see dark. But he doesn't. He sees Team 7 and something bright. Like a light.

If he had accepted their friendship, would he have left this part of his story behind?

Most of the time he thinks that here is no such thing has a homecoming. That there sometimes is no such thing as a coming back.

But when he sees Team 7 and that light…

He believes that there is such a thing after all.

And he believes that even he can do that one day.

* * *

_It is something that grows over time... a true friendship.  
A feeling in the heart that becomes even stronger over time...  
The passion of friendship will soon blossom into a righteous power and through it;  
you will know which way to go..._

- Bolero of Fire, Zelda: Ocarina of Time -


	3. like a river's flow, it never ends

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

**Summary:** If you don't try, you will hit it. They all believe they will hit it, but it doesn't mean they don't try. ( Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto )

* * *

Naruto sits.

He can feel the cool water hit his back hard, but gently. When he opens his eyes, it's hard to tell if his eyes are also from the water too. They're blue and most of the time, they shine with determination and strength.

He was determined to withstand his body against the rushing water, but he really wanted to hurt that perverted hermit for making him do a weird training such as this. He was strong enough to stick with it anyway.

But his eyes shone with contemplation now.

Everyday he made himself survive the training.  
Everyday he trains with them in his mind.  
Everyday he sought out his dream.

If Naruto did not have motivation, he would not survive this type of training. The perverted hermit had told him that once, and he grudgingly admits it that the man is right and that he knows something else besides picking up chicks.

He thinks of Team 7 a lot when he trains – that's his motivation. When he thinks of them, he also thinks of the road of life, a brother, and a girl's tears of sorrow.

And with that he thinks of the promise he had made to Sakura – a girl who he knew was as strong as her punches. The promise to bring back a boy named Sasuke – who he knew was more than the secluded person he made everyone believe.

Deep down inside he knew he envied the guy. Some part of him probably hated him too. Of course, being called "dead-last" and "idiot" didn't really hold up his strong reputation for the Uchiha.

But as rivalry went on, it slowly turned into a friendship that Naruto never thought possible. A friendship that he knew even the great Uchiha prodigy couldn't deny either.

Sakura was the most loyalist person he ever knew. And Naruto somehow knows that hasn't changed since their genin days. Despite her hot tempers, Sakura was a model on what a friend should be. She was upset when he had come back on that day empty-handed, but he believes that's when she saw him as someone. He had no doubt in his mind that he was pushed into the background more in her eyes because of Sasuke, but he now knows that she has seen him. And he knows that she still sees him.

Maybe that's why he wants to fulfill that promise to her. He knows how she feels when Sasuke is gone. They lost a friend and a family. A part of their heart was lost there too. He's not only fulfilling it for her, but for him as well.

* * *

Two years later, he returns to the village of Konoha.

What he sees is strength. He sees people moving and getting stronger as the time goes by. He knew that he was going to come back one day, but he never thought that this is what he'd return to. Orochimaru had definitely doubted the strength of the village he thinks.

Orochimaru. Every time anyone would speak his name he'd choke on his ramen (if he was eating - which was most of the time) and start rambling on how he was an old snake that was destined to get eaten by an eagle one day and how _he_ was going to be that eagle.

He stands there at the gate of the village for awhile. Naruto grins as he thinks of the best way to make his entrance known. A part of him wants that, but a part of him believes he will receive it one day without thinking.

His grin becomes wider as he thinks of his dream: Hokage. He remembers when he shouted that dream out to the world and only received comments of "You wish" or "You think someone like _you_ can become one?"

But he knows that they're wrong. Every moment of his life he grows closer to his dream. Some people are unaware of it, but Naruto sees it.

Completing his first C class mission. Beating Neji in the chuunin exams. Going to rescue Sasuke. He knows now that he is a new person by going after his friend. He admits that it's probably his first time doing so. Even if Sasuke had cut away the ties that had held them together, he knew that he was not lost.

Naruto's eyes never stray from his goal. Always move forward, because it's useless to turn back. But yet, he stills turn back even though he knows that he will probably not find something there that can bring Sasuke back.

All he has is himself. But he stops at that thought and shakes his head, the smile still on his face.

He has himself and his friends – his friends that he knew were more like family to him now.

And he knows that will be enough.

* * *

_Time passes, people move...  
Like a river's flow, it never ends...  
A childish mind will turn to noble ambition...  
Young love will become deep affection...  
The clear water's surface reflects growth..._

- Serenade of Water, Zelda: Ocarina of Time -


End file.
